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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 9, 2002)
Thursday, May 9,2002 ‘O’where will our feathered friend go? A little less than a month ago, the University, amid constant speculation and criticism, offi cially enacted the “O” — as well as the traditional seal — as the of ficial school logo. The move really doesn’t affect Oregon athletics. The logo has been in place on University uniforms and other memora bilia for three years now. In fact, that's where the whole thing started. However, it does take away a bit from the spirit of Oregon. The word “Ore gon” is synony mous with the “Ducks.” The only college team to use Disney’s Donald Duck character as its mascot, Oregon _ has been a main stay for the water fowl before most of our parents and even grandparents were old enough to go to college. Now, with the announcement that the school will go to the more stylish “O,” what happens to our beloved quacker? Does he go the way of the dodo, making appearances at games and nothing else? There has been no announcement concerning the future of Donald, but based on memorabilia, he seems to be in dire straits. Don’t get me wrong. The new logo is much more stylish and bolder, and has a stronger sense of professionalism. But where is the character? Where is the creativity? Before the Ducks went to the new Hager Behind the Dish Turn to Hager, page 14 Micah Harris runs further into the Duck record books by stepping up in big meets this season By Peter Hockaday Oregon Daily Emerald When Micah Harris stepped into the blocks at the USA Track and Field Championships in June at Hayward Field, he looked over to the next lane and saw hurdling legend Allen Johnson. Un til that moment, Johnson had been merely anoth er poster on Harris’ wall. The two raced, and Harris missed making the semifinals by 0.11 seconds, while Johnson went on to win the meet and the gold medal at the World Championships. Turn to Harris, page 14 Hurdling the competition0 Jonathan House Emerald Micah Harris has been a blur to most opponents this season. He holds the Oregon record in the 110 hurdles. Freshman catcher Mari Lyn Petrick is batting .296, fourth-best on the team. Her older brother, Ben, is a catcher for the Colorado Rockies. Young Petrick catches family tradition ■Colorado Kockies catcher Ben Petrick is ‘really proud’ of the way his sister has played in her first year By Chris Cabot Oregon Daily Emerald They might be the greatest brother sister catching combination in the country — and the younger half is just a freshman. Mari Lyn Petrick is in her first year playing for the Oregon softball team and Ben, one of her two older broth ers, is in his fourth year playing for the Colorado Rockies. In her first year of collegiate softball, Mari Lyn has made the transition with relative ease. Hitting .296 in 30 games this season, she has shared the catch ing chores with sophomore transfer Jenn Poore in addition to earning a few starts as the team’s designated player. The Ducks’ Petrick has five doubles, two home runs and 14 RBI with three games remaining. “I’m really proud of her with what she has done,” Ben said Wednesday during a telephone interview. “I get more excited, I think, looking over the Internet finding her box scores and see ing what she did more than I get excit ed with what is go ing on with what I’m doing.” Because of the distance that sepa rates them and their busy schedules, the siblings do not of ten get to see each other play. “I just try to talk to her whenever I get a chance to hear what she has to say, whether it’s about her defense or her offense, and just try to share anything that I have learned in my career,” Ben said. Raised in Hillsboro with a family of athletes — their father is the athletic di rector at Glencoe High and older broth er, Ryan, is a teacher and coach at the same school — Mari Lyn enjoys work •>.; < : s< PETRICK ing out with Ben and tries to pick up as much as possible from him. “It helps me as well, because I’m get ting my workouts in too,” Ben said. “My talking about hitting and defensive stuff with her also reminds me of cer tain things and helps me out as well. Unfortunately I haven’t seen her play a lot, because I’ve been gone for the past seven summers and springs. So when I get to see her hit in my off-season work with her, it’s really fun. Hopefully it helps her out some, but she’s a pretty hard worker all by herself without me being around. She expects a lot of od things out of herself.” Coming out of the same high scfu 1 as her older brother, who was also a stand out in football and turned down scholar ships to play for several Pacific-10 Con ference schools, Mari Lyn said that she never felt any pressure to perform iter the high standards that Ben had set. “I didn’t really feel like I ever h to live up to his expectations b\ v means,” she said. Turn to Petrick, page 14